Editorial | Deadly texting

Toward the end of Werner Herzog's new, 34-minute documentary, "From One Second to the Next," Reggie Shaw sits on the side of a remote Utah road and sobs. It is seven years since he sent a text message whose content and recipient he can't recall. Seven years since his texting caused a traffic accident at that site which took the lives of two people. Seven years, but the crying and the grief are fresh for him - and for the survivors of the men who were killed.

Maybe the film will work in a way nothing else has, because people are still texting and driving despite laws and penalties being enacted.

Maybe seeing a Wisconsin boy consigned to a ventilator and a wheelchair for the rest of his life after being hit by a texting driver will persuade us to keep our eyes on the road.

Maybe hearing a plain and plaintive "please don't do it" from an Indiana man who texted "I love you" to his wife right before he hit and killed three people with his van will make the case to put the wireless device down while behind the wheel.

Not much else seems to have worked so far.

"There's a completely new culture out there," Mr. Herzog told the Associated Press. " ... I see there's something going on in civilization which is coming with great vehemence at us."

Perhaps with all the vehemence of a two-ton vehicle whose driver takes his or her eyes off the road for 5 seconds. Traveling at 55 mph, that car will have gone the length of a football field by the time the driver looks up again.

None of this is new information about that:

? Almost 200 billion texts are sent each month.

? Thirty-four percent of teens say they have texted while driving, and almost three-fourths think it's safe to do so.

? Texting causes a 400 percent increase in the time a driver has eyes off the road.

? The U.S. Department of Transportation reports distracted driving - texting and cellphone use - was linked to more than 5,400 deaths nationally and more than 550,000 crashes in 2009.

Kentucky numbers were in the local spotlight the same week Mr. Herzog's film was released online because Gov. Steve Beshear unveiled a plan to increase the number of penalty points that will be given to drivers convicted of texting and driving: Since the beginning of 2012, more than 12,000 traffic accidents have involved drivers holding cellphones, counting for about 3,600 injuries and 54 deaths.

The governor is correct to pursue the increased penalties for texting while driving, after the General Assembly failed to act on the same provision.

Too much, a terrible too much, can happen, from one second to the next.

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Editorial | Deadly texting

Toward the end of Werner Herzog's new, 34-minute documentary, 'From One Second to the Next,' Reggie Shaw sits on the side of a remote Utah road and sobs. It is seven years since he sent a text